Bates's letter is that of a true thinker. Asks to see JDH's to Bates. Point raised in it is most difficult. "There is one clear line of distinction; – when many parts of structure as in woodpecker show distinct adaptation to external bodies, it is preposterous to attribute them to effect of climate etc. – but when a single point, alone, as a hooked seed, it is conceivable that it may thus have arisen." His study of orchids shows nearly all parts of the flower co-adapted for fertilisation by insects and therefore the result of natural selection. Mormodes ignea "is a prodigy of adaptation".

Transcription

Down Bromley Kent

March 14th

My dear Hooker

Thanks for your letter: I agree with much of what you say
about the amiable reciprocal feelings of nations; but Emma agrees with your last
sentence that you wrote in a Mephistophelerian spirit. I think you are a bit too hard on
Asa Gray; but he evidently tried to be as severe as he civilly could. I knew he was
quite wrong about your indifference.—

Thanks, also, for Photograph, which about a fortnight ago we were wishing for; but it
does not give your expression & so by no means does you justice.—

What a capital letter of Bates': he is evidently a true
thinker; it has made me very curious to see your letter; if it contains nothing personal
relating to Bates or yourself, might I see it? If so, & you are writing, would
you ask him to send it; or I would write; but I thought he might feel scruples without
your permission in sending it.

The point which you have been discussing is most difficult: I always come, after doubt,
to your side. There is one pretty clear line of distinction;— when many parts
of structure as in woodpecker show distinct adaptation to external bodies, it
is preposterous to attribute them to effect of climate &c—but when a
single point, alone, as a hooked seed, it is conceivable that it may thus have arisen. I
have found the study of orchids eminently useful in showing me how nearly all parts of
the flower are coadapted for fertilisation by insects, & therefore
the result of n. selection,—even most trifling details of structure. I have
just, by the way, been studying Mormodes ignea—; it is a prodigy of
adaptation; but I had to examine 12 flowers in all sorts of ways, before I made
out its mechanism.

I should like to read Oliver's paper, but I am so hard-worked with proofs &c,
that I must give it up, till it appears in print.—

It is real good news that you will try & come here in Easter; Emma desires to join me in hoping that Mrs. Hooker will come also; I fear we cannot take in your children, as all
our Boys, & perhaps others, will be at home.

I am pleased to hear that you like Lubbock & Mrs. L.; he is a
real good fellow & she is a charmer.—

Farewell, my dear old fellow | Yours affectly.— |
C. Darwin

Wallace will be home in a month or two.—

Do not forget Lythrum, Saxifrages &c. Avoid Saxifrages with flexuous or woolly
hair; but choose a plant with longest straight hairs.

The year is established by the reference to Alfred Russel Wallace's return to
England (see n. 12, below).

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f2 3472.f2

Letter from J. D. Hooker, [10 March 1862].

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f3 3472.f3

See letter from Asa Gray, 18 February 1862.

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f4 3472.f4

The photograph was apparently enclosed with the letter from J. D. Hooker,
[10 March 1862]: CD wrote `Photograph' at the top of that letter (see
CD annotations). For Hooker's negative opinion of his photographic likeness, see the
letter from J. D. Hooker, 17 March 1862.

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f5 3472.f5

See the enclosure to the letter from J. D. Hooker,
[10 March 1862].

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f6 3472.f6

See the enclosure to the letter from J. D. Hooker,
[23 March 1862].

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f7 3472.f7

CD had for some time been anxious to discover the mechanism by which the pollinia of
this orchid are ejected, and had unsuccessfully sought specimens from various of his
botanical correspondents (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [before
15 February 1862] and n. 3). In Orchids,
p. 249 and n., CD thanked Sigismund Rucker for having lent him a plant
of M. ignea, making reference to the fact that he had examined twelve
flowers before making out `the meaning and action of the several parts.' See also letter
from D. F. Nevill, [c. 14 March 1862] and
n. 3.

See letter from J. D. Hooker, [10 March 1862].
According to Emma Darwin's diary (DAR 242) and the letter to H. W. Bates,
16 April [1862], Hooker stayed with the Darwins from 17 to
21 April 1862.

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f10 3472.f10

Frances Harriet Hooker.

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f11 3472.f11

John and Ellen Frances Lubbock. See letter from J. D. Hooker,
[10 March 1862]. In her Autobiography (DAR 246), Henrietta Emma Darwin
recalled that CD was `fascinated' by E. F. Lubbock, who was reported to be a
`beautiful and fascinating creature'.

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f12 3472.f12

Alfred Russel Wallace arrived back in England in the spring of 1862, having spent
eight years in the Malay Archipelago (Wallace 1905, 1: 385).

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f13 3472.f13

CD had enclosed with the letter to J. D. Hooker,
25 February [1862], a list of specimens he needed for experiment; he wished to
see specimens of Lythrum in order to investigate what he believed to be `a
magnificent case' of trimorphism in the genus, and of Saxifraga for his
research into insectivorous plants. Having observed that minute flies were caught in the
hairs of S. umbrosa, CD had concluded that, while this species
apparently did not derive nutriment from the dead flies, some of the more hairy
saxifrages might do so (see Correspondence vol. 9, letter to
J. D. Hooker, 30 May [1861]).